"A garden that pleases me is a garden…designed with deliberation" – David Hicks

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Camellias

When I was out walking in the garden today I was admiring the camellias. They are the evergreen structure that forms the bones of the garden and they bloom to boot!

daffodils in the Wordsworth meadow are up and some are already blooming …… but

the meadow was not cut last summer so there are plenty of weeds, and several trees and limbs are down. Victims of the heavy saturating rains and strong winds of late.

One of the first times I’ve seen the incredible flowers of the ‘evermottled’ ginger…….. blooming at ground level. I have not often seen them as I’m hesitant to crawl around the garden on all fours when it is cold and damp. This one just jumped out at me.

I can’t believe it’s already autumn. Time flies, as they say. So here’s what is happening in my garden.

While my Northern garden buddies are cutting back perennials and putting their gardens to sleep… I am enjoying an embarrassment of riches in the way of Camellia sasanqua blooms.

Some so profuse they look like cascading roses from a distance.

Last fall I finally found the Camellia sasanqua ‘Cotton Candy’ a favorite of my dear late friend Margaret Moseley. It was one she had recommended to me many years ago when I first started my garden, but I was never able to locate it. When it starts to bloom I will post a photo. I know Margaret would be pleased. Still on the lookout for Camellia ‘Martha’s Dream’ yet another of her early blooming favorites.

Camellia ‘Daydream’ which I rescued from a compost heap at a nursery. I followed the fragrance and found it. I have never seen it in the trade before or since. Of course the first time I saw it was in Margaret’s garden.

Judging by my last post I am way behind. It is almost Christmas! To celebrate I just bought a camellia sasanqua ‘Yuletide’. I can’t believe I waited so long before adding this one to the garden. Actually it will be planted at the house so I can see it from the living room window.

The glossy dark green foliage and bright red single flowers with their golden centers will look fabulous against the white house and are perfect for the season. I plan to cut some and combine them with some holly & berries for the mantle and add Paperwhites for both colour and fragrance.

I’ll post photos of my decorations when they are finally done. Meanwhile I hope you are all doing well and ready for the Holidays.

What are your favorite flowers for the Holidays?

I planned this post about Robert Mallet’s lecture but I got carried away with the early Clematis and the Southern Azaleas (Rhododendron indica) and… and… So here goes…a bit of this and that. (Robert’s inspirational lecture next, promise)

The walkway from the work /compost area.

The drive doesn’t look so bad after all. Blooming plants are a great distraction. When the Azalea (Rhododendron indica G.G. Gerbing) is done, the Oak Leaf Hydrangea (Hydrangeaquercifolia) on the right will start.

The first clematis to bloom for me is the Japanese cultivar ‘Asao’. followed by…

‘H.F. Young’ and…

‘Josephine’. This year she is not as double as most. Lyndy, can you shed some light on this please.

Then there is my favorite rose…

‘Madame Alfred Carrier’.

The garden is glorious and I have not yet mentioned the Styrax obasia, the white Lady Banks rose, the Viburnums (more about them in the next post)…Life is good!

The temperature here in Georgia is an unseasonable 76° F. I should not complain about this (coming from Canada), however all the buds on the spring bloomers are swelling and the cold, that is sure to come, will inevitably kill them.

In a ‘normal’ year the Japanese Flowering Apricot (Prunusmume) above, starts to bloom sporadically mid to end of January. This year on the 15th, it is almost done, its petals adorning the ground.

The Helleborus, commonly called Lenten Roses, should peak, you guessed it, at Lent. Not this year,(below)

I’ll not whine any longer. The camellias are putting on a spectacular show…

and Margaret Moseley’s favorite, ‘Fragrant Pink’ is perfuming the air with its rose-like fragrance.

This is also the earliest I have ever seen Edgeworthia crysantha open.

All in all this is going to be a very interesting gardening year.

It is never too late to wish you all a wonderful healthy & joyous New Year.